Lippold Case
by MegElemental
Summary: Struggling with a murder enquiry that has almost no new leads, Alex is still struggling to get home. When two new policemen come to the station, will they be able to help? Contains GALEX. On temporary hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A small story for Ashes to Ashes.**

**Disclaimer: Only the characters you don't recognize are mine.**

Gene Hunt was in a bad mood. This was the first thing Alex Drake noticed when she walked into CID on Monday morning. Chris and Ray were hunched over their desks, keeping their heads down, while Shaz scurried around carrying papers, looking terrified, followed by the Guv, who was shouting and cursing at anyone he could see. Unfortunately for Shaz, she was the nearest to him.

Alex decided to do something. Poor Shaz was on the verge of a breakdown. So she walked over to Gene briskly, her high heels tapping on the black-and-white floor. Gene looked up, his thunderous face brightening slightly. He's glad he's found someone else to shout at, Alex thought sourly.

'Gene, stop shouting at Shaz! What has she done to you?' She frowned at Gene and put her hands on her hips.

'I am shouting at her because I am annoyed, Bolly. I am annoyed because Mr High and Mighty new Superintendant has decided I can't do my job properly, that's why!' He grabbed Alex's arm and led her into his office, slamming the door behind them.

'What do you mean?'

'The new Superintendant is bringing two new people into our team, a DI and a DCI. Here,' he said, passing her a folder. Sure enough, she read that two CID members from another police station in London were being temporarily transferred over to Fenchurch East.

'It says here that their police station burnt down, and they needed a place to carry on with the case they were working on,' said Alex. 'It says nothing about you not being able to do your job.'

'They are giving us the DCI. He obviously thinks we need help,' Gene huffed.

'So, they were working on the same case as us. The Lippold murders,' said Alex. 'They probably moved them here so we could help each other. Did you actually read the folder before blowing up about it?' she looked at him accusingly, and he had the decency to look abashed.

'Well…'

'I'm just glad I caught you before you complained to the Superintendant.' Alex grinned, and Gene huffed again. Alex turned back to the folder. 'DCI Finn and DI Jardine. I don't think I've ever met either of them before.'

'So, they were working on the Lippold case as well, were they?' asked Gene, sitting down at his desk and pulling the papers towards him. 'Hopefully they'll be able to shed some light over a load of dead ends.'

A few weeks ago there had been two murders, a young girl and a woman, both killed with a blow to the neck. The way that their bodies were arranged, hands and legs tied together, and left with only a few ripped scraps of clothes, however, was reminiscent of a series of murders twenty years ago, by a man called Connor Hobbs. It wasn't him, however, as he had died in prison three years earlier, and a search through all his known accomplices had revealed nothing. They were on the verge of giving up, as there hadn't yet been another murder, so the well of evidence had run dry.

'Why were they investigating it?' she asked.

' 'Nother murder, down in their patch. 18 year old girl called Rebecca Griffiths. They may have something we don't.'

'When are they coming?' asked Alex.

'Today.'

'Today! Isn't that a bit short notice?'

'Apparently not,' grimaced Gene. 'I know I'm going to hate them.' Alex sighed and rolled her eyes.

It was nearing one o'clock. Gene, wanting the place to be spick and span for the newcomers, had had everyone help clean up the place. Alex suspected that he only asked her to help him take down all the slightly smutty posters, most of which were high on the wall so she had to stand on a chair to reach them, so he could look at her arse. She didn't mind particularly, because she had an easy job compared to poor Chris, who was made to sort all the papers out.

They had all finished and were waiting with baited breath for the DCI and DI to walk through the doors. The ticking of the clock seemed to be louder than normal, and it was annoying Gene. He tapped his fingers on his desk, and looked around his office. At two minutes past one he huffed in annoyance and slammed out of his office, nearly knocking Alex over as she walked past the door carrying and armful of files.

'Are they bloody here yet?' he said, grumpily. She plonked the files on her desk.

'No.' Chris and Ray came over with Shaz.

'It'll be nice to have some new people 'round the place,' offered Shaz. They all looked at her. She ducked her head, but was saved from having to answer by the double doors slamming open.

Two people were standing at the threshold. A man and woman, both reasonably young. Everyone froze, looking at them, as they started to walk towards the Guv. He turned and stared at them as they approached.

The woman reached the Guv first and held out her hand.

'DCI Hunt, how nice to finally meet you.'

'You too. I'm guessing you're DI…'

'DCI Finn, actually. This is DI Jardine.' She smiled at him, rather smugly. Ray and Chris' mouths dropped open, and Alex almost laughed out loud. She had a feeling she'd like DCI Finn.

'But you're a bird!' blurted Ray. Finn gave him a hard look.

'Good observation, DC. Nice to see you've earned your position.' Alex smirked again. DCI Finn turned to her.

'DI Drake, yes?' She smiled.

'Please, call me Alex,' she grinned, and shook her hand.

'Then I'm Meg.' The both grinned again. 'This is Ryan Jardine, my DI.'

The man shook her hand as well. Alex appraised him silently. He was as tall as the Guv, with short sandy brown hair and had a slim stature. He had a nice, open face, and she took to him immediately.

Meg, in contrast, was slightly smaller than Alex, dark hair and eyes, pale skin, and had a very angular face. She was pretty, and Alex felt slightly large next to the petite woman.

***

Gene looked the DCI up and down. He had been surprised to find out how high her rank was, but he tried not to let it show. He found himself looking at her body, shown off by the tight suit she was wearing. She was slim and pretty, but he found he still preferred Alex.

The DI seemed like a nice bloke, if completely under Finn's thumb. Gene shook his hand.

'So, Jardine. Is that French?'

'Yes, but I was born in England.'

'Right, we might as well get on with what we've come here to do. I don't suppose you could brief us in your office?' asked Meg, but before Gene could say anything she had already pushed past him and gone into his office. Ryan held up his hands in a 'what can you do' motion, and followed her in.

'Well come on, Drake,' huffed Gene, and they walked into his office, Gene shutting the door behind him.

**A/N: I would like four reviews before I update chapter two. So get reviewing!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the brilliant reviews! I feel loved. This is NOT a self-insertion fic, as the DCI is called Meg, just Meg and my name is Meaghan. But I like Meg, and I may have lifted the name from an Eoin Colfer book. So that isn't mine either. Ah, well. I completely own DI Jardine, however. Sorry, I'm rambling. I'm just stalling, so I don't have to write. Here we go. (And I'm not going to attempt Gene's accent; sorry, I'm just not that brave.)**

Gene watched grumpily as the DCI made herself at home in his office. He could see Alex smirking at him from the corner of his eye, and that didn't improve his mood. He got straight to the point.

'So, you're working on the Lippold case too?'

'We've been trying. Unfortunately all we've found are dead ends. Whoever's been doing this has cleaned up after themselves pretty well, and hasn't left any damning evidence at the crime scenes.' Meg Finn sighed and pulled out some papers from her bag.

'But…' coaxed Alex.

'But just before we gave up on the link between Connor Hobbs and this new criminal, we went to Connor Hobbs's old house,' chipped in Ryan.

'Someone else lives there now; a woman called Eleanor Hollis. She moved in 15 years ago with her two children and her husband. Both children now live on their own and her husband disappeared years ago and hasn't been seen since,' said Meg, passing Gene the interview reports.

'The interesting thing is that Eleanor knew Rebecca Griffiths.'

'The girl who was murdered?' asked Gene.

'Exactly,' Meg said, at the same time Ryan said, 'That's right.' They looked at each other and grinned.

'How did she know Rebecca?' asked Alex, intrigued.

'It turns out her youngest son, Samuel'- Gene winced slightly, -'Went to the same school. Was in the same year, even,' said Meg.

'That's a coincidence,' breathed Alex.

'I don't believe in coincidences,' grunted Gene. 'I bet young Samuel heard about Connor Hobbs, and decided to try it himself.'

'That's what we thought,' said Ryan. 'But there the trail gets cold. You see, Samuel moved to Manchester last year, and only came at Christmas last year.'

'Are you sure?' Alex asked.

'Positive,' said Meg, as she pulled out another sheet. 'He goes to some open university up in Manchester. According to his teacher, he's never missed a single night class.'

'But he still could've gone home in the holidays,' Gene pointed out.

'His landlady told us over the phone he's only ever left the room he rents at her house for more than a night once. And that was last Christmas.'

'So his mother must have been telling the truth,' Alex murmured.

'What about the other child? The older one?' asked Gene. Meg grinned, and Ryan looked excited.

'That's the thing! Eleanor hasn't heard from him for a few years, now. And before that he was apparently getting himself in with the wrong sort of people. Eleanor told us he was doing drugs, coming home every night completely pissed out of his mind, and huge rolls of cash kept turning up.'

'Certainly fishy,' Alex nodded.

'We haven't found out much else about him. A prostitute from near here recognized his picture and told us where he lived and gave us his phone number. But when we turned up at his flat, it was empty, and the phone number we lost in the fire,' Meg said, and she pulled out a grimy piece of paper. 'This is the original copy, but someone split something on it, and it's completely illegible.'

Gene took the paper and scrutinised it.

'So the fire might not have been an accident?' asked Alex.

'Maybe, maybe not. The results from the lab testing haven't come back yet,' said Ryan. 'But we lost a fair bit of evidence in that fire, and it's set us back.'

'I'll give this to Viv; I can't make head nor tail of it. He's good with puzzles,' Gene said. Then a thought struck him.

'How long ago did you speak with this hook... err, prostitute.' He could feel Alex giving him an approving look.

'About three weeks. Why?' asked Meg, curiously.

Gene went over to his filing cabinet, and pulled out the pictures of the woman who had been murdered. He passed them wordlessly to Meg, who looked at them in shock, her face going white. Ryan looked over her shoulder. He too looked pale.

'That's her. That's Evelyn,' Meg said, handing them back. Gene recognized the look in her eyes; the haunted expression he usually saw on his face after one of his contacts had been killed. You knew it was because you talked to them that they'd been killed. If you hadn't, they would still be alive…

'What about the other victim?' asked Ryan, holding out a hand. Gene passed it to him. He tried not to look at the body of the young girl in the pictures. He caught the almost imperceptible sigh of relief from DI Jardine as he looked at the picture.

'I don't recognize her,' he said, passing it to Meg. She took it and nodded in affirmation.

'Neither do I.'

'Well,' said Gene, after a few moments silence, 'lets not stand around here like a load of lemons, shall we? I would quite like to see the place that hook - prostitute tod you the eldest boy lived. What is his name?'

'Simon,' Meg told him.

'Right. Lets go,' he said, grabbing his keys from the table and slamming the door open. 'Shaz?' he called.

'Yes Guv?' came the reply from the little kitchenette.

We're going out to follow a line of inquiry for a couple of hours,' he said.

'Right you are, Guv,' she said. 'I'll make you all a cup'o tea when you get back.'

'That'd be lovely, Shaz,' said Alex, smiling.

'Time to fire up the quattro,' Gene Hunt said as he stepped outside the police station and was greeted with the sight of his red Audi.

'You have an Audi Quattro?' asked Meg, interestedly.

'Yes, I do, and no, I never let anyone drive it except me,' he said firmly, as she opened her mouth. He glared at him before saying 'shotgun front seat!'.

'Damn,' whispered Ryan from behind her.

Alex climbed into the car behind DI Jardine, taking full advantage of the view. She grinned to herself. She really was no better than Gene at looking at people's arses.

Meg slipped in the front, and both her and Ryan started to put their seatbelts on. Gene looked at them strangely.

'Sorry,' she said. 'Force of habit.'

'Where do you come from?' asked Gene, shaking his head. 'The same mad land as Bolly?' Meg looked confused. Alex grinned, but was thrown by Gene's remark. He was right; not many people put their seatbelts on here. What if they were from 2008…? She shook her head. That wasn't very likely. They were probably just two people who actually cared about their lives.

Gene drove to the flat with his usual reckless abandon, flinging them all about violently.

'Damn it,' Meg swore. 'That's the fifth time I've dropped the paper. Can you slow down so I can give you directions? I'm fed up of landing in your lap.'

Gene smirked, and Meg thumped him on the arm.

'What was that for?'

'You were being an annoying bastard. Turn right!' Gene swerved violently, and Alex ended up in Ryan's lap. She felt she had the better deal, as she heard Meg grumbling from the front.

'Stop! We're here, thank god,' Meg sighed with relief, and Alex and Ryan peeled themselves off the back of the front seats, where they had been flattened from the rather sharp stop.

'Next time, I'm driving,' Alex distinctly heard Meg mutter.

'Well then,' said Gene, glaring at the apartment block as though it had caused him a great personal hurt. 'I have a good feeling about this lead.'

The all trouped after him, and started going the long way up the stairs, as the lift had a big out of order sign.

'Don't hold your breath,' grumbled Meg, who was obviously still in a sore mood about the car journey. After about three flights of stairs, they came to a rather nondescript door, with faded and peeling white paint and a rusty doorknocker.

'Knock knock,' said Gene, and he kicked the door down.

**A/N: Sorry, a bit of a filler chapter. Now for a little poll:**

**What pairings do you think?**

**A: Galex and Meg/Ryan**

**B: Gene/Meg and Alex/Ryan**

**C: Implied Galex and Meg/Ryan**

**D: Not bothered.**

**Please vote; it'll help me get ideas. I have a rough plan for this story in my head, but I'm still a bit fuzzy on the details. And after five brilliant reviews for the last chapter, I thought we could try for six reviews this time. Signing off, MegElemental.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I just read my last chapter through and it was horrendous!! Sorry about that. I'll try to make this one a bit better. It certainly has more action in it. Thanks for all your votes! I have an idea about what I'm going to do, but you can still tell me what you would like to see in reviews.**

'Knock knock,' said Gene, and he kicked down the door. A young man was in the apartment, hastily piling something into a bag. He looked up, panic-stricken. They stared at one another for a tense second. The lank-haired boy glared at Gene, and suddenly rushed towards the door, bowling Meg and Alex over.

Alex fell back, not being able to right herself in time, but her back did not hit the unforgiving tiled floor of the corridor. Instead, two strong, wiry arms caught her under the arms and pushed her back upright. When she turned, expecting to see Gene, she was surprised to see Ryan behind her. Looking over at Gene, she saw with a flash of jealously that Meg was in his arms. She shook her head. She was jealous over Gene?

'Well, come on!' yelled Meg, having been restored to her feet. 'He's getting away!' The four of them seemed to snap into action.

Pelting down the stairs with a gun in his hand, Gene forced the sight of Ryan catching Alex out of his mind. He felt annoyed, with Ryan for catching her, but mostly with himself for not being there instead. Gene had also seen the look in DI Jardine's eyes as he'd caught Meg. It mirrored his own.

But he put those thoughts in a very deep dark corner of his mind and concentrated on the young man running as though the very hounds of hell were snapping at his heels. This, thought Gene Hunt, made him guilty. Only guilty people ran.

The man turned the corner. Meg, being the one in front shot past the corner first, but jumped back behind the wall as a bullet whizzed over her head.

'Shit. He's got a gun!' yelled Gene, and he leant his head around the corner and tried to shot the man, but he had already started to run again.

'No kidding,' snarled Meg, as she hurtled round the corner again, gun out. She was closely followed by Ryan, who quickly overtook her as he had the advantage of longer legs. Alex and Gene looked at each other. Alex shrugged, and they ran after them.

'He's going into that building,' called Ryan, from the front. Gene swore. The building in question was an 8 storey high business block.

'Oh no,' panted Alex, as they tore across the busy road towards the building. 'More stairs.' Today definitely hadn't been the day to wear her high heeled boots.

They somehow managed to get through the revolving door in one piece and were just in time to see the man disappear into a lift.

'Stairs!' called Meg, but she stopped short when she reached them. There were two flights; one went up and one went down. She made a snap decision. 'DCI's up, DI's down!' she yelled. 'The young man could have gone either way.' Gene huffed in annoyance.

'Excuse me, DCI Finn, but I am the resident DCI here. I order everyone else about!'

'Well then,' said Meg, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently. 'What are we to do, mighty Hunt.' Gene glared at her. He was silent for a few seconds.

'What she said,' he muttered, his head down, then lifted it up to bellow at the other three shot off, 'And don't you dare get shot, any of you!' Then he hurried after Meg.

It was on the fifth floor that Meg and Gene heard the ding of the escalator. The stopped short, and sure enough, the man stepped out of it. His face paled considerably when he saw them waiting for him, and he pulled his gun up with shaking hands.

'No you don't…' Gene said, threateningly, as he cocked the gun and pointed it at him. Then everything happened very quickly.

****

Alex and Ryan were on the basement floor, staring at the lift.

'I don't think he went down…' Alex started to say, when two shots rang out above them, echoing down the stairway.

'Shit,' said Ryan, and they both hurtled up the stairs. Alex found herself thinking Please let it not be Gene, Please let it not be Gene… Over and over again in her head. She felt slightly guilty of the fact that she would rather Meg had been hurt, but she had known Gene for longer. And she was beginning to think he was more than just a construct to her. Much, much more.

She reached the fifth floor considerably out of breath, and a few seconds behind Ryan. She stood quite still for a moment, taking in the scene before her.

Gene was kneeling over the young man, who had blood on his shoulder, radio in his hand. Ryan was bending over Meg, who was slumped against the wall, alive but clearly not happy, with a dark red patch on the thigh of her right leg.

'Damn,' Alex heard her say to Ryan, 'these were my favourite jeans…' Alex almost laughed in relief.

'Are you sure you're ok?' Ryan asked quietly.

'Yeah. The bullet just clipped my leg. It went in that wall over there,' Meg pointed to a hole in the wall behind her. 'I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Alex saw Gene walking over to her.

'He won't say his name,' he said, gesturing to the young man, 'but the paramedics are coming.'

'Good,' she said. Alex struggled for something to say. She suspected she was still in shock.

'I can walk, Ryan,' Meg said firmly from behind her. Alex turned to see Meg use the wall to prop herself up, but her thigh was obviously hurting more than she let on, because her face whitened as she leant on it, a small hiss of pain escaped her mouth and she sank back down on the floor.

'No, you can't,' Ryan said firmly, and, ignoring her loud protests, he picked her up bridal style and started to walk down the stairs. 'Don't struggle,' he told her, 'or I'll throw you over my shoulder.' She abruptly stopped, but she muttered all the way down to the ambulance, where her leg was bound and she was given the all-clear.

'Right then,' said Gene, rubbing his hands together, 'To Luigi's. I think we've all earned a drink.'

'Good plan,' said Meg. 'But only if I drive.'

***

By the time the rest of CID arrived at Luigi's, there were already two empty wine bottles on the table. Gene, to Alex's surprise, had drunk very little, but had spent the majority of his time analyzing his glass. She nudged him with her elbow.

'What are you thinking about? You've been very quiet.'

'Don't get your hopes up Bolly, I'm not thinking about you,' came the gruff reply. Inside his head, Gene winced. That was exactly what he'd been thinking about. Alex, Alex, Alex…

'That's it, I'm not drinking any more,' Meg declared, setting down her empty glass. 'I hate having a headache in the morning.'

'With the amount you've drunk, you'll probably get one anyway,' Ryan remarked. Meg just stared pointedly at the full glass of wine he was holding in his hand. 'I have a higher tolerance of alcohol than you do, remember?' he said loftily. Meg winced.

'Don't remind me.' Alex was about to ask what happened, through pure nosiness rather than anything else, when shouting broke out from the two tables beside them. Chris, Ray and Viv were falling out with the other branch again.

'Mr Hunt, can you please do something this time,' wailed Luigi. 'Last time they trashed my restaurant!'

Gene got up slowly. Meg jumped up too, looking excited.

One of the other coppers caught sight of her and stood up, swaying slightly.

'Look!' He said, pointing, his words slurring and his eyelids half-closed. 'They've got another bird with'em!' Now all four of them were on their feet, both Meg and Ryan looking angry. Meg extricated herself from behind the table with some difficulty, then strode up to the man and stared up at him.

'You are talking to a superior office, mate,' she snarled, and drew her fist back. The man landed on the floor, whimpering and clutching his nose, which was spurting blood. Ryan walked over to pull Meg away from the others, so she wouldn't hurt any more, when he overheard one of them muttering, 'She's got a great arse.' Before he knew it, the whisperer was on his back, also with a bloody nose, victim of Ryan's fist. Gene decided he should step in before they hurt anyone else.

'I think you should leave, now,' he told them. Those that were lucid enough to realize the danger of staying made off quickly, while those who were drunk took longer to convince. They all, eventually, left.

'Well,' said Meg, examining her knuckles. 'If you have that much fun every night, I think we should stick around.'

**A/N: As you could probably guess with the amount of running up and down stairs, I was listening to Creeping Up the Backstairs by the Fratellis while writing this. Brilliant song, I highly recommend it. I'm not sure whether I like this chapter or not. Tell me what you think. I promise in the next chapter there'll be some GALEX, and some progress on the murder front.**

**Kohanna Kirei Kaede- I do enjoy writing, but last chapter I had a bit of a block. But I pushed through, thank goodness.**

**MegElemental.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, Chapter 4. Hope you enjoy it. (Some Galex in this one, as promised!)**

Alex rolled out of bed the next morning with a bit of a headache. Staggering over to her little kitchenette, she quickly made herself some tea and sipped it slowly, savouring the sweetness on her tongue.

It's funny, she thought, how here I like different things than I did in 2008. I used to hate sugary tea, and make-up, and high heels. But my tastes have changed.

Gene suddenly snuck unbidden into her thoughts. She wouldn't have looked twice at a man like him at home, but here… It was different. She owed him her life for more times than she could count, and although he infuriated her sometimes, he cared very much about his team, and about his job as a police officer, cleaning the streets of 'scum'.

Her musings were broken by the shrill ringing of her telephone. Groaning and clutching her head, Alex picked up the phone.

'Drake?' Alex sighed.

'Think of the devil…' she muttered.

'Get your arse over to the station, pronto. Hospital said we can question the young man yesterday, from the flat.' He abruptly put the phone down, making Alex grin. Gene Hunt, the man of few words.

******

The rest of her tea and some aspirin later, Alex was sitting in CID next to Meg, waiting for Gene to find his car keys.

'God I feel awful,' Alex groaned, leaning her head against the wall.

'Tell me about it,' Meg said. 'I'm never going to drink again.'

'You say that every time,' Ryan grinned.

'Yeah, well… this time I mean it. I think I may have drunk a whole bottle last night. Took me all of five seconds to fall asleep. Alcohol seems to have a laxative effect on me. A few sips, and I'm knocked unconscious.'

'You probably have a very low tolerance,' Alex said. Meg was about to reply when Gene burst out of his office.

'Found them,' he said, brandishing them in Alex's face.

'Good. Can we go now?' asked Meg. 'I have a very short attention span.' Ryan grinned again. 'What? You do to! Remember that time when…'

'I don't think they need to hear it,' said Ryan quickly, muffling Meg with his hand. 'It was a very long time ago.'

'It's a twenty minute drive to the hospital,' said Alex, smiling. 'I'm sure we'd all like to hear it.' Meg smiled brightly.

'Brilliant!'

****

'So, your name is…' Gene asked the young man lying on the hospital bed. He looked pale and drawn on the white covers, and his eyes were wide and scared.

'W-who's a-a-asking,' he stammered nervously.

'I am,' said Gene.

'I'm Detective Chief Inspector Finn,' said Meg briskly, 'and you might as well tell us your name. You're already in deep trouble for shooting a police officer.'

'Simon,' he told them finally, looking even more scared.

'Simon Hollis?' asked Alex. He nodded warily. Ryan handed him the photos of the three murder victims; Rebecca Griffiths, Evelyn Dwight and Mary Lane. If possible, he went even paler.

'Do you know these women?' he asked.

'N-n-no,' he stammered, though his hands holding the photographs were shaking.

'Cut the crap, Simon. We know you knew Rebecca Griffiths. She went to school with your brother, didn't she?' Meg said, starting to get annoyed.

'Yes! I knew them. I met them in Club reunion,' he told them, sweat beading on his brow.

'And…?' asked Gene, almost growling at the poor lad.

'He told me to find him some girls. I told them if they wanted to earn some easy money to go to his house. They all took the card.'

'He? Who's he?' asked Alex, sensing a breakthrough.

'If I tell you, he'll kill me!' wailed the boy, breaking down completely.

'What if we promised to give you our protection?' Meg said quickly. 'Would you tell us then?'

'I'll tell you his name, but not where he lives. You'll have to find that out somewhere else.'

'TELL US HIS NAME!' bellowed Gene, making the young man jump.

'James Staten,' he whimpered.

'How did he contact you first?' asked Ryan.

'He came to my house, looking for a man called…' Simon wracked his brains, trying to remember. 'Hobbs, or something. Apparently he used to live there. Then, when I left home, he found my apartment and asked me if I wanted to earn some money. I was struggling to find a job, so I said yes. He gave me his address and told me to bring him women from Club Reunion, so I did, and the next day I found a large wad of money under my bed.'

'Has he contacted you recently?' asked Alex.

'Yes. He told me to move apartments. I was getting the rest of the money from my flat when you came in, and I panicked. I thought he's come to kill me.'

'Why would you think that?' asked Meg.

'Because he told me if I said to anyone what I was doing, he'd kill me.'

'And had you?'

'No. But I thought he might just kill me anyway, to get rid of me.'

'Thank you, Simon,' Alex said, and they piled out the small hospital room.

'Well,' said Ryan, letting out a long, low whistle. 'That was informative.'

'James Staten,' mused Meg. 'I'm sure I've heard that name before.'

'Tomorrow we'll check out that club. Do some 'undercover' work,' said Gene. 'But today I think we all deserve some time off.' Alex stared, stupefied, at Gene.

'Time off!'

'I think we've earnt it. And I also know for a fact that the club is closed today, so there is no point in doing anything else. Apart from getting pissed at Luigi's. Come on, I'm starving.' They all started to walk back to the hospital car park, where the Quattro was parked rather haphazardly over three parking spaces. When Alex pointed that out, Gene had just said, 'I'm the police. I can park anywhere I want.'

'For a drink?' Meg asked sceptically.

'No., but I find wine always goes well with a midday meal, don't you?' he said, as he opened the door to the Quattro. Meg huffed at him, then moved the front seat forward and clambered in, followed by Ryan. Gene slammed the front seat back in place.

'I do love the Quattro,' he said, 'but the old Cortina did have the bonus of four doors. Having to move these seats the whole time is a bit of a faff.'

'Especially if you have to get in quick for a car chase,' Alex said, smiling. She slid into the passenger seat as Gene started the engine.

'Right,' he sad, roaring out of the car park and onto the road. 'Luigi's.

*****

'I'm betting this James Staten was a friend of Connor Hobbs,' said Alex, slurring her words slightly. She'd drunk a bit too much wine, and it was beginning to dull her senses.

'But surely he would have been mentioned on the case record for Connor Hobbs?' asked Meg, who looked about as bad as Alex felt.

'Right,' said Gene, sitting back down at the table, clutching two more bottles of wine. 'Plans for tomorrow. Simon 'ollis wouldn't have been Staten's only lackey in the club; he'll have others. You two,' he gestured vaguely to Meg and Alex, 'will dress in somethin' slutty and go asking around for jobs. Say you 'eard about someone looking for girls. They'll take you to Staten's house, and me an' Ryan will follow in the Quattro. Then we'll arrest him and send forensics in 'is house, look for DNA, that kind of stuff.'

'That's a good plan,' Meg nodded approvingly, but Ryan, like Alex, looked apprehensive.

'If he is the murderer, it might not be safe to…' he began, but Meg cut across him.

'No, no, it'll work. We can take guns, can't we Alex?' Alex tried to focus on Meg, but her eyes were blurry.

'Errr…' she said, struggling to think.

'It's getting late,' said Ryan. 'And it's going to be a big day tomorrow. I think I'll go back home now.'

'I'll come with you,' Meg stood up and swayed slightly. 'If I drink any more my liver will give up.' Ryan caught her as she stumbled over the chair and led her to the door. Alex grimaced down at her glass.

'I think I should stop as well,' she said, starting to get up. She sat straight back down again. 'Whoa, head rush.' She tried again, but, like Meg, stumbled and almost fell. But it was DCI Hunt who caught her.

'I'm not letting you go up those stairs to your flat on your own, in this state,' he told her. 'Here.'

Supported by Gene, Alex tripped and fell all the way up to her apartment above the restaurant. But when she was about to go into her flat, Gene caught her by the shoulder.

'Alex…' he said. She tried to look him in the eye, but failed miserably. 'You mustn't worry about tomorrow, yeah?'

'I… I…' she stammered.

'I saw you. You can't hide your feelings as well when you're drunk.'

'It's just…'

'I won't let anything happen to you, Alex,' he said softly, and he pressed his lips gently against hers.

Later, as she fell into bed, she realized Gene must have been drunker than she'd thought. There was no way he would have revealed his feelings like that sober.

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, but I've been rowing practically every day (and I have the blisters to prove it) and I had a biology exam. I got a whole day's study leave today, so I thought I'd finish this chapter instead of frying my brain revising for Chemistry. A little bit of Galex, as promised. I found that it is actually amazingly hard to write Galex and not have Gene OOC. But I figured he would be if he was drunk. Please review! I think I had two last chapter. A little more would be nice this time. So go on, mush!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I just realized that there was a man called Hollis in the first series of A2A. I did not mean to call my characters the same. The idea actually came from the school Lady Eleanor Hollis, a.k.a LEH, who whip our arses at rowing, even though they look about 9 years old. So apologies for that mistake. Thanks for all the reviews!**

**By the way, who loved series two? OMG, I won't say anything in case you haven't seen it, but what an ending!**

'This the place?' asked Ryan, when Gene drew up in front of a dilapidated old warehouse.

'Yeah,' he grunted. 'It's hidden so only those who know about it come. It keeps the riffraff out.'

'I thought only riffraff _came _here,' Meg said, fidgeting with her short skirt. As Alex's had all been too big, she'd had to go out and buy one for the occasion. Meg wasn't used to short skirts, being more at home in trousers.

'Yes, but there is riffraff below this riffraff that this riffraff don't want here,' Alex said, but Meg looked even more confused.

'Just forget it,' Gene groaned. 'Women. They make even the simplest things complicated.'

'Only because our minds are far superior,' Meg said loftily. 'Shall we go, then?' Ryan opened the door and let Alex and Meg out.

'Right,' Alex said briskly, 'as soon as we get out of the club get ready to follow. Whatever you do, don't loose the car. Got it?' They nodded, so she and Meg set off, clicking on the concrete with their high heels.

'I think that's the first time I've ever seen Meg in a skirt that short,' Ryan said, as he climbed back into the Quattro. Gene smirked.

'The first time I ever saw Bolly she was dressed as a prostitute. We only figured out she was our new DI when we took her back to the station and she saw her name on the desk.'

'Strange way to start work,' Ryan commented.

'Bolly is strange,' Gene said, 'but you get used to it after a while.'

******

Alex and Meg stepped into the dark, stuffy club and stood still for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to do next. Alex was about to say something when a man came up to them, solving their problems immediately.

'Hey, girls. You lookin' for some easy money?'

'Yeah,' Meg said, 'D'you know anywhere we could earn some?' Alex was surprised how easily she slipped into the role of a prostitute. She had always found it hard to let go of her sense of pride.

'Come 'ave a drink with the boys an' I'll see what I can do,' he leered at them. Alex felt faintly disgusted, but followed Meg over to the bar.

'Two cocktails for these lovely ladies 'ere,' the man told the barmaid. She nodded and went away again.

'So, darlin's. I'm Phil. What're your names?' he asked, taking a large gulp a glass of some unknown liquid.

'I'm Sally,' said Meg at once. 'and this is Polls.' Alex smiled tightly. The man grinned.

'Don't talk much, do ya Polls.' The way he said it made Alex shiver. It sounded so strange hearing someone other than Gene call her something like that.

'It saves her talkin' with the likes of you, probably,' said another man, who looked slightly more better-off than the man they'd picked up. The man struggled for words, obviously wondering whether to be offended or not. He decided not, and grinned again. Alex began to think that if he smiled any more, his mouth would fall off his face. And that would probably be an improvement.

The barmaid came back with the drinks, and the man handed them over. Alex was about to take a sip when Meg nudged her slightly and when Alex looked over at her, shook her head almost imperceptibly. Alex sniffed the cocktail and grimaced. There was definitely something in it other than alcohol. She was wondering how she could discretely get rid of the offending drink when the barman called over to Phil.

'Oi, mate! It's almost seven. You'll be late for Staten.' Alex stiffened and she saw Meg give a triumphant grin from the corner of her eye. Now they knew they were on the right track.

'Oh yeah. Come on girls; I'll take you to Staten's. There's plenty of easy money to be 'ad there.'

Alex followed Phil out the club towards a brown car, with a suspiciously fake number plate. 'In you get,' Phil said. The nerves started fluttering in Alex's stomach when the door closed behind her, but it was eased slightly when she saw a flash of red in the rear-view mirror.

The journey lasted about 10 minutes, after which Alex felt like she was going to hurl. Phil drew up outside a large house, in a rather dreary part of London.

'Out you get, ladies,' Phil leered. Alex realized that leering seemed to be the only facial expression Phil seemed to be able to accomplish. He led them up to the door and knocked five times. Alex saw the Quattro draw up and park on the other side of the road, but then the door opened and she and Meg were ushered in by a large group of men, who all looked like they'd stepped out from a gang movie.

Except this wasn't a movie.

'Mr. Staten will send your money tomorrow,' said one of the men, and then they shut the door in Phil's face. 'Come with us,' they said to Alex and Meg. They followed apprehensively.

*******

'When do we go in?' Ryan asked Gene, as they sat in the Quattro opposite the big house. Both of them hadn't been able to relax since the two girls disappeared through the doors.

'Not yet,' Gene grunted. Ryan could see the strain was getting to him. 'We need to catch them red-handed.'

'But we don't want to go in and find dead bodies!' Ryan yelled.

'I know that!' Gene yelled back. Then he stopped. 'Shhh. Someone might hear.'

'We should have never sent them in,' Ryan muttered.

'They can look after themselves,' Gene said, but Ryan wasn't sure who he was trying to comfort.

The doors opened, and two men went out, got into the brown car, and drove away.

'Ok, now we go in,' Gene said, as he cocked his gun. Ryan did the same, and they stepped out the Quattro and walked over to the house.

'Back-up to No.41, Clarence close,' Gene spoke into his walkie-talkie, as they reached the doors. With a kick from both men, the doors were open and Gene was in the hall. It was suspiciously empty. They stood in the middle of the huge hall and looked around at the many doors and staircase.

'Which way?' Ryan asked, but as he said this, two shots were heard from a room upstairs. Gene swore and they ran to the source of the noise. The stairs led to a corridor, and Ryan went to the only closed door and shouldered it down, only to stop in surprise at the scene in the room. Gene skidded in behind him, gun held out, a wild look in his eyes. But he, too, stopped at the sight.

'Hello,' Meg said, before kicking a stirring man on the floor. Alex was standing over another two men, a gun in her hand, with rope burns around her wrists. Meg still had bound hands, and stood over another few men. She saw where they were looking.

'We didn't kill them, just knocked them out.' Gene stood with his mouth open, while Ryan stammered.

'How… how did you…'

'It's a long story, actually,' said Alex, throwing the gun at Gene, who caught it in the tips of his fingers, before going over to Meg and untying her wrists. Meg explained when her wrists were free.

'They took us up here, and tied our hands. When they tried to tie our feet, Alex managed to kick one and undo her knots.'

'I took a course in escapology,' she said, shrugging modestly. 'They weren't very experienced, so it wasn't hard. Then one man tried to shoot me, but Meg got free of the one holding her and somehow knocked the gun out of his hand. It didn't take us long after that.'

'So, you didn't really need my help, then, Bolly,' said Gene. 'I don't know why you were so worried.'

'One problem,' said Meg, 'Staten got away. He ran for it as soon as we'd got the gun.'

'Still in the house, d'you think?' asked Ryan.

'Maybe. Let's split and search,' Gene said, as sirens outside told them back-up had arrived. 'About time!'

Alex searched along the rooms on the first floor, and then went up to the second. When she heard footsteps from behind a closed door she wished she'd remembered to take the gun. She slowly opened the door, to find James Staten across the room from her, a double bed in-between them. The barrel of the small shotgun he held between shaking hands was pointed straight at her.

'I'm not who you're looking for,' he said, shaking madly. 'I'm just the financer. I knew you'd come after me. I was supposed to kill you. And the others from the… other place.'

'What do you mean other place?' Alex asked, slowly raising her hands in the air. 'Look, just think about this. If you kill me, you'll go to prison for a very long time. If you give me the gun, and tell us who you're working for, you won't be in for long, I promise.' She held a hand out carefully towards the man. But he just raised the gun higher and cocked it.

'If I don't kill you he'll kill me!' he said, sweat now pouring off his face. 'You don't understand. He has people everywhere. I can't ever be safe.' Alex saw the look in his eyes, one of absolute desperation, and knew he was about to pull the trigger.

'Don't do this,' she said, holding out both her hands. 'We can help you.'

'You didn't do much good for Hollis,' he said, which left Alex confused.

'What do you mean? He's in hospital?'

'Not anymore. They got him. Just like they'll get me. Solheimjokull,' he said, his voice shaking along with his hands. His finger twitched, and Alex threw herself to the floor as a shot rang out in the room.

She rose slowly, looking at the dead body on the floor with a bullet hole through his head. Gene holsted his gun, and offered her a hand. She took it, still shocked into silence. Gene looked at her, then let go of her hand.

'Cat got your tongue, Bolly? A simple thank-you would be nice.'

'Thank you,' she said, looking him in the eye. The moment was broken by the skidding sounds of Meg and Ryan coming to find the source of the shot.

'Damn these high-heeled shoes,' Meg said, as they burst into the room. 'Oh thank god, you're all alive. Ahh, shit,' she said, as one of her heels snapped. 'Right.' She ripped off the offending items and threw them on the floor, before walking over to the body.

'James Staten,' she said, bending down and closing his eyes. 'Well, is this then end of it all?'

'He said he was only the financier. Someone else must have been coming,' said Alex. 'He said something about Hollis being dead, and he said Solheimjokull. And he knew who we were. He was told to kill us. The people from the other place.' Meg and Ryan went white, and looked at each other.

'Other…place?' asked Ryan. 'He didn't say where this 'place' was, did he?'

'Wait…someone else is behind this? And what was he financing?' asked Gene. The silence that followed was broken by the roaring sound of an engine starting. Gene rushed to the window, closely followed by the others. They caught sight of a flash of red speeding round the corner.

'They stole my CAR! THEY STOLE MY BLOODY CAR!' Gene shouted. 'BASTARD!' he hollered out the window.

Alex caught Meg's eye, and despite the circumstances, they both giggled.

**A/N: I'm so sorry about the long wait, but I had major's writing block, and end of term stuff to finish (two speeches… in two different languages!) and then I went on a trip to Iceland, and there was no computer there, so I couldn't do anything when I finally thought of something. But enough of excuses, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it had some good twists to keep you interested (my stories are usually very predictable). So all that's left is to… REVIEW. Show that you are better than I am at remembering stuff and write a response. Btw, do you prefer me to answer in the next chapter, or send you a message? If you ask a question, that is. Let me know.**


	6. Chapter 6

'We went through James Staten's bins, boss… er, ma'am,' Chris told Alex cheerfully.

'Did you find anything important?' she asked distractedly, shifting a few huge piles of paperwork. Not far away from her, Meg sat searching through old case files. The print was so faded Meg had the paper an inch from her nose. They were looking to see if Staten had been mentioned before, financing recent crimes. Forensics had examined the house, and had found DNA of the three women who had been killed, but they were certain that they hadn't been killed there.

'Whoever Staten was financing, they used his house as a half-way point,' Ryan had said. 'That would have taken the spotlight off wherever they actually killed the girls.'

'But why go to all that trouble just to kill a few chicks?' asked a disgruntled Ray from the corner. He felt left out since Meg and Ryan had turned up, but as Gene said, there's only so many seats in the Quattro.

'Good point, Ray,' Alex had said. 'Maybe the murdering is just to cover for something?'

'It's a very inconspicuous cover,' snorted Gene.

'I didn't know you knew a word as long as that, Gene?' Alex raised an eyebrow. Gene had sniffed.

'It's been known to 'appen.'

'Ma'am?' Chris asked.

'Oh, sorry, Chris,' Alex said, shaking her head. 'What did you say?'

'Well, me an' Shaz found all these bits of cut up paper in his study bin. They all had the same type o' writing on, so we fit them together, like a puzzle.' Chris pulled out an A4 piece of cardboard, with bits of paper stuck on it. 'And it turned out to be a letter from the bank, recognizing a loan from Staten to a Rudolf Chess.' Chris grinned proudly. 'We think that's who he's financing.'

Alex took the cardboard from him.

'I do believe you may have hit the money, Chris. Meg! Come and look at this!' Meg left her desk with a sigh of intense relief and scrutinized the stuck-on scraps.

'It's worth a look-in,' she said. 'Well done Chris.' Chris beamed in pleasure, and turned to go to the small kitchenette.

'Oh, Chris?' called Meg. He turned round. 'We don't have any of those pink wafer biscuits, do we?'

'I'll go check,' he said, and then he disappeared into the adjoining room.

'If he went to this much trouble to get rid of it,' said Alex, gesturing to the torn up scraps, 'then it's obvious he wanted to hide it. This might be it.'

'I recognize the name Rudolf Chess,' Meg said. Alex remembered she'd said the same thing about James Staten.

'Are you sure you're not thinking of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's friend?' she asked. Meg shook her head slowly.

'Nooo… I think I've had his name come up in a case before…' she began, but then Gene and Ryan burst through the double doors.

'We've got a lead,' Gene said roughly. 'One of Staten's underground mates gave us a name, with a little… _persuasion._' Alex shuddered. She _really_ didn't want to know.

'What's the name?' asked Meg brusquely.

'Rudolf,' Ryan supplied.

'Rudolf Chess?' asked Alex, amazed.

'No, Rudolf bloody reindeer. Come on, car, move. We've got a location as well.'

'How did you know?' Ryan asked as the hurried after Gene's flapping coat. Alex passed him the cardboard. 'Oh, this is excellent.'

'It was Chris and Shaz,' Alex told him. 'They really don't get enough credit in the station.' She said this loud enough so Gene could hear. He grunted, but didn't comment.

'Our informant said that Rudolf lived on top of a record shop down Sandler street,' Gene said as they skidded round a corner.

'How do you know he's not fed you a load of bull?' asked Meg.

'We've had information from him before. He's our inside man.' He was cut off by the crackle of the radio.

'WPC Laley to DCI Hunt. Do you read me? Over.'

'DCI Hunt, go ahead Laley. Over.' Gene barked into the speaker.

'We've just found Simon Hollis dead in the hospital, sir. Over.' Silence fell in the car.

'Are you there sir? Over.'

'You were supposed to be watching him!' roared Gene. 'How could he be dead if he was being watched!'

'You're supposed to say over when you've finished,' Alex reminded him. He shot her a murderous look, and continued driving the replacement car. Alex sighed and leaned forward.

'WPC Laley, this is DI Drake. What happened? Over.'

'One of his intravenous tubes was replaced with poison, ma'am. We think whoever did it dressed as a policemen, as the nurse said only people in uniform were let in. Over.'

'Thank you. Over.' They all sat in silence for a while.

'Staten said Hollis was dead,' Alex said. 'When he was holding me at gunpoint.' Gene's hands tightened on the hessian brown steering wheel.

'Whoever's behind this is willing to kill anyone who becomes useless,' Ryan said. 'That makes them dangerous.'

'Because killing three defenceless girls makes them harmless,' Gene spat. Alex sighed. He'd been in a constant mood ever since the Quattro was stolen.

He drew up outside the record shop, not caring about the tyres on the pavement, and stormed out, leaving the rest of them to hurry after in his wake. Gene shoved his way past the man behind the till with a quick flash of his badge, and then thundered his way up the stairs. Alex slipped past the man, also holding her badge in plain view. Behind her, she heard Meg say a very quiet sorry and Ryan mutter excuse me. There was something strange about those two. They seemed so… modern for a time when nearly all policemen were like Gene Hunt. And Ryan treated Meg like an equal.

The manc lion's loud footsteps halted abruptly up the stairs. There was the sound of a door being kicked in. Then there was quiet. All three hurried up, and saw Gene standing in the small bedsit, staring at the wall with a look of astonishment, dread and anger on his face. Alex rushed in.

A sheet lay on the floor, a small rip in the side, where it had been hung on a nail, covering the wall. But the wall was now in view.

Meg and Ryan walked slowly in, guns out, and the searched the tiny room and cupboard-like bathroom and kitchen. Then they, too stared at the wall.

It was covered with photos.

Photos of Alex Drake, Meg Finn and Ryan Jardine.

'Oh my flipping heck,' Meg breathed. 'That's just scary.' On the wall, in a massive collage, were photos upon photos of them. There were grainy ones, blurry ones, but they were all of them, in some shape or form.

'Look! Here's one from when we were at the hospital,' Meg pointed. 'And in the club, and all tied up…' she trailed off. 'Er, and Alex asleep in her bed.'

'What!' Alex said, looking to see where Meg was pointing. It was, sure enough, a picture of her asleep in her flat above Luigi's. She shuddered, party at the atrocious photo and partly because of the realisation that whoever took it _knew where she lived._

'Look at this,' Ryan breathed, smoothing down a creased piece of paper with handwriting on. 'It says 2008.' Alex stiffened. Meg and Ryan looked like she felt.

'2008?' Gene said, confused. 'That's in about 20 years, isn't it?'

'29,' all three of them said at the same time, then they looked at each other.

'Other place…' Meg said, exchanging a look with Ryan. 'I guess that clears that up. But why do they have pictures of you, Alex?'

'Because… 2008…' Alex struggled to find words without sounding completely bonkers. Meg's face lit up with understanding.

'You came back too…' she said, excitement plain on her features. She turned to Ryan. 'I told you she was very modern for 2008!' Ryan looked astounded, and poor Gene looked utterly lost.

'Errr…' Alex said, for once lost for words.

'We all were moved to a special police branch that deals with very modern devices, called 2008,' Meg lied swiftly. 'But obviously we all quit and came back to this old force.'

'It got too unfeeling,' Ryan added. Alex watched Gene's face. He seemed to swallow the story.

'Well, perhaps this Rudolf Chess has something against 2008,' he supplied. 'And that's why he's stalking you.'

'But the murders…' Ryan trailed off, a thought striking him. 'Unless it was just to catch our attention.'

'Maybe he wanted us to find out that he knew where we live,' Meg said, plucking one photo off the wall of Ryan putting the kettle on in their shared kitchen of their flats and one of her brushing her teeth.

'We need to find him,' Gene growled from between his teeth. 'He has my car.'

'But why would he need the money from Staten?' Meg asked.

'Maybe he's got something planned,' Ryan said. This sounded so ominous that Alex shivered.

'I think for now we need to move house,' Alex said, 'just to show him we've discovered it,' she waved a hand at the wall. 'It might throw him off.'

'I have a house,' Gene said unexpectedly. They all looked up, waiting for him to elaborate further. 'It's large enough for four,' he said, and if Alex didn't know him better she'd have said he was embarrassed.

'Well, that's sorted,' said Meg, breaking the slightly awkward moment that followed. She set off back to the borrowed car. As they stepped out of the shop a flash of red was seen going round the corner. Alex was starting to freak out and Ryan and Meg struggled to hold Gene back, who seemed to want to chase his car on foot.

Later, in the car, Gene seemed to have regained his rough, former self.

'You said he might have something against 2008,' he said. Alex winced at the '2008'. 'You might have files on him or something. You could go and look him up.' It was not clear who he was talking to when he said 'you'.

'Err, we couldn't,' Meg said hurriedly. 'It's one of those organisations that don't let you in once you've left.' Alex could have sworn she heard Ryan mutter 'worse luck' from the back seat. It was obvious to her that they wanted to get back to 2008 as much as she did. If they hadn't found a way, she doubted she would anytime soon. They did say that two head were better than one… But if they all worked on it?

'So I'm guessing they won't even let you phone and ask,' Gene said grumpily.

'Nope. Sorry,' said Ryan.

'Right then. We'll get your stuff, take it to my house, and then round the evening off at Luigi's,' Gene said. No one argued.

**a/n: Sorry about the long wait. My muse river dried up and I've been waiting for the rains for ever. Luckily, today the heavens opened. Please review, if you don't feel to angry at me. Next chapter will include a drunken Gene at Luigi's!**


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